How If-Then Plans Helps You Stick with a New Habit

When it comes to a habit change, we all start with the best of intentions.

We promise to make a change, commit to it every day and imagine a perfect future where we’re no longer doing a bad habit.

Then what usually happens?

Failure.

The question is: Why do people fail when they start with the best of intentions.

Are they less disciplined? Is the change less important to them? Do they lack motivation?

Are they consciously failing their habit change or are their unconscious decisions simply getting the better of them?

While everyone has their own excuse for failing, there is one that stands out:

Not having “if-then plans" in place

In this article, we’ll discuss the benefits of the if-then plan and how to use it the next time you’re trying to make a major habit change.

Why People Fail to Change Their Habits

Recently we discussed the differences between streak habits and occasional habits. Streak habits are those tasks you complete every single day (like flossing), while occasional habits are done only on specific days (like running or lifting weights). Even though there’s a difference between these two habit types, they both require one crucial ingredient—planning.

Countless research has shown that the best way to complete a goal is to have a strategic plan. Moreover, this plan should include specific responses for how you’ll deal with temptation and obstacles (Read these articles for more info [1] [2] [3] [4].

While having desire and motivation are important for making a change, they’re not enough when it comes to dealing with temptation.

Think of it this way…

Right now, we’re approaching the New Year. Lots of people have a genuine desire to change their lives, so they make resolutions. Yet, 92% of them will fail to fulfill their resolution (according to Forbes Magazine[5].) That is a lot of failure.

Why does this happen to many people?

The answer is simple—they don’t create an if-then plan.

What are If-Then Plans?

Implementation Intention [6] is the fancy term for if-then planning. This concept was created by psychologist Peter Gollwitzer in the mid 90’s. In one experiment, Gollwitzer asked his students to mail in an assignment two days before Christmas. One group was simply given the assignment, while the other was asked to form specific if-then statements: When would they mail it, where they would mail it, and how they would mail it.

The results?

The first group (no specific instructions) had a 32% success rate. And the second group (if-then instructions) had a 72% success rate. That’s more than double the percentage—simply by creating a plan.

The ramification of if-then planning has a huge impact on your next habit change.

Instead of creating a goals or action plan, the best strategy is to identify your triggers and figure out how to avoid them.

EXAMPLE:

Let’s say you want to stop wasting money.

This can be tough to turn into a daily routine. In fact, focusing on not spending money is often counterproductive. That’s because the act of trying to not think about something often brings it to the front of your mind and make you desire that item even more.

Sidebar: In Willpower Instinct, Kelly McGonigal described an interesting experiment where participants were asked to think of anything besides a white bear. And as you probably could guess, the only thing that popped into their mind was a white bear. This experiment (and others) show that often when we’re trying to avoid a certain habit; we end up fixating on it and succumbing to the temptation.

When it comes to a nebulous habit change like “stop wasting money," you’d be better off identifying the “wasting money triggers" and creating a series of if-then plans for how you’ll overcome them.

The point behind an if-then plan is to fully understand how you often fail and create a plan for what you’ll do when a specific scenario comes up.

How to Create Your If-Then Plans

What’s the secret to making an if-then plan?

Here are nine-steps for implementing this strategy:

1. One habit at a time.

No matter what, only focus on changing one habit at a time—even if two aren’t related to one another. (For more on this, read the article about the effects of ego depletion.)

2. Set a target goal.

A goal should be a big picture idea of what you want. It should be specific as possible. “I want more money" is not a good goal, but “I want to save $20,000 by the end of 2014" is perfect.

3. Create mini-goals.

Each major goal should have a series of smaller milestones. These will keep you energized and focused on what needs to be done. Not only are these important for your overall success, they will help you deal with the specific triggers that often pop up as you work towards a major goal.

4. Set a baseline.

It is hard to achieve a goal without having a good starting point. For instance, if you’re spending too much money, then you should start by tracking your daily expenditures. See where the money is going and “what" you’re typically buying.

5. Spitball ideas.

Sit down and analyze the habit you’re trying to change. When do you do it? What creates the impulse to do it? Are there certain people who “cause" you to do the bad habit? Getting as much data as possible will help you create good if-then statements.

6. Track your bad habit.

Take a notepad with you for a few weeks. Whenever you think about doing a bad habit, write down the stimuli around you. Certain sights, sounds, smells and even people can act as triggers. Eventually, you’ll be able to come up with if-then statements like: “If I am with Bobby, then I will only bring $40 in cash and nothing else."

7. Develop a replacement habit.

Nature abhors a vacuum. If you’re trying to eliminate a bad habit, something else needs to take its place. It has been proven that it’s far easier substitute a negative routine instead of trying to get rid of it entirely.

As an example, let’s say you determine that “wasting money habit," is your way to reduce stress and relax. You could substitute it with an exercise habit. So you would create an if-then statement like: “If I feel like buying something from Amazon, I will instead go for a 30 minute walk."

8. Set a firm start date.

Don’t put things off indefinitely or they’ll never happen. Set a start date for your new habit. You can continue to refine your process and your statements as you go along.

9. Use failures to refine the if-then plan.

Failure happens. Don’t let it get you down. If you fail just add to the list more ideas for your statements. What caused the failure? Was it a specific habit trigger you initially missed? What can you do next time?

You probably won’t be perfect in your first attempt to change a habit change. In fact, it’s best if you expect to slip up along the way. The people who succeed long-term realize that one single mistake is not the end of the world. They try to minimize the damage, fight off the “what the hell effect" and climb back on the horse.

The secret to making a lasting change is to create a series of if-then statements for your habits.

Create a list of how you’ll respond to specific scenarios and use these whenever you’re tempted to follow through on a negative impulse. You’ll find it’s easy to stick with your commitments when you have a clear set of instructions for every single situation.

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